TV ONE’s campaign promoting The Pacific is an example of the power of a big idea to drive business results.

TVNZ used the launch of Steven Spielberg’s The Pacific to bring younger viewers to TV ONE and create greater preference for the channel.

To create relevance and excitement, Colenso BBDO brought the reality of the Pacific war to life in a most authentic and emotionally powerful way, by sourcing genuine letters written by the soldiers themselves and used these in direct mail, outdoor and adshels. To bring the experience of war even closer, it recreated a WWII dogfight between two Japanese warplanes and a New Zealand Kittyhawk.

The creative campaign resulted in the show attracting 24% of New Zealanders to the first episode of The Pacific, compared to just 1% in the USA and UK. 2.3 million New Zealanders watched the show at some point and despite being a show set in 1942 it achieved the objective of attracting a younger audience to TV ONE.